


Stories

by eerian_sadow



Series: Avalon [25]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family, Fluff, HEADCANON AHOY, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-18
Updated: 2010-06-19
Packaged: 2018-05-17 21:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5886310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perceptor gets to know Ratchet and Wheeljack's creations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> another [](http://laratron.livejournal.com/profile)[laratron](http://laratron.livejournal.com/) inspired prompt. she wanted some Perceptor meets Dinobots fic, and this is the begining of the result. section one has been finished for a while, but the rest will likely come in bits and pieces.

Perceptor had been studying Hound‘s collection of data on the flora and fauna of Earth for several planetary hours. At least two patrol shifts came and went, peripherally noted by the scientist, but he was far to absorbed by his reading material to pay much attention to the other mechs. Until a very large silver snout poked over the side of his datapad and covered the screen.

The scientist scowled and looked up, but any words of chastisement he would have uttered died in his vocalizer.

“What you read?” the owner of the snout asked. “Me Grimlock like stories.”

Grimlock. The mech who had been in Ratchet’s repair bay the day Perceptor arrived at the base. Perceptor remembered helping his mate repair the huge mech--and being subsequently warned about how unpredictable the Dinobot could be--but he hadn’t had the opportunity to meet Grimlock in person afterward. He was having trouble reconciling the mech he had worked on a few Earth days ago with the being in front of him now, though.

He couldn’t ever remember seeing a mech with an alternate mode that was quite so… primal.

“You not talk?” Grimlock asked.

“I speak,” the scientist replied. “I was merely startled by your appearance.”

“Oh. That like scared?”

Perceptor shook his head. “No, being startled is like being surprised. I was surprised by your appearance, but I was not afraid.”

“Oh.” Grimlock gave him an open-mouthed expression that could have been a grin. “That good enough for now. Me Grimlock want scare Decepticons not Autobots.”

“I see.” he was a little appalled at the young mech’s speech patterns, but Grimlock was easy enough to understand. Perceptor wondered if all the Dinobots spoke that way--and what his mates had been thinking when they programmed the Dinobots if they did. “May I ask you a question, Grimlock?”

“Sure.”

“Why are you currently in your alternate mode? We aren’t engaged in battle, so it hardly seems necessary.”

Grimlock cocked his head to the side, obviously thinking. Then he transformed into his root mode. “Me Grimlock forget. Had to break up fight between brother Dinobots.”

“Oh dear.” Perceptor was genuinely surprised at that news. Infighting between members of a sub-faction of the army was a serious offense. “Is that common?”

“No. other Dinobots usually remember that me Grimlock king.” Grimlock looked and sounded positively smug.

“I see.” He didn’t really, but he would ask one of his mates for clarification later.

“So.” The Dinobot leaned over perceptor’s datapad again. “You not tell me Grimlock what you reading.”

Perceptor gave the larger mech a smile. “It is a data file containing data on the native life forms of this planet. I find it fascinating.”

“That boring,” Grimlock replied. “Me Grimlock like stories, not native life forms.”

“Of course you do,” the scientist replied amiably. “You’re very young, and young mechs like exciting stories much more than boring lessons.”

“That right!” Grimlock replied. “You know good stories?”

“I’m certain I know one or two,” Perceptor said with a grin. Grimlock might have been created as an adult mech, but he was still just a youngling at spark. “Let me think for a moment.”

He searched his databanks for a moment, looking for the information on human mythology he had read last cycle. It wouldn’t hurt for Grimlock to learn a little culture with his story, even if he wasn’t aware that it was happening.  



	2. Stories (2/3)

Perceptor pretended not to notice when the second of the Dinobots--and the young mech had to be a Dinobot, he was painted with the same color scheme as Grimlock--snuck into the rec room and sat down to listen. He was surprised to see that the second Dinobot was a flier, but there was no way that the scientist could mistake the wings folded against his back for anything else. He did smile, though, when he saw the Dinobot leader reach out and wrap the flier in a one-armed hug.

“Him Ratchet say you Perceptor fix him Grimlock last week,” the flier said when the scientist finished his story.

“I did,” Perceptor replied. “I am afraid you have me at a disadvantage, however. You know my designation, but I do not know yours.”

“Me am Swoop,” the second Dinobot said. “Thank you for fixing him Grimlock. Him Ratchet not let me Swoop help when me am hurt.”

Perceptor processed the younger mech’s words for an additional second to be sure he understood what Swoop had said. “You are welcome, Swoop. Are you your team’s medic then?”

“Me am learning,” the flier admitted shyly.

“Him Swoop am smart!” Grimlock proclaimed loudly, hugging the other Dinobot again. “Him be best medic ever.”

Swoop ducked his head down in embarrassment. “Me am only field medic. Me not that special.”

“On the contrary, Swoop.” Perceptor smiled gently. “Field medics are incredibly important and it takes a very special mech to do their job. You must be someone extraordinary if Ratchet has entrusted you with such a duty.”

The flier’s embarrassment obviously grew at the scientists words. “Me not special.”

“Me Grimlock think you Swoop special,” The larger Dinobot said firmly. “That make it true.”

Swoop sunk down even further in embarrassment. Perceptor decided that perhaps it was time to change the subject to something the flier was more comfortable with. “Do you enjoy hearing stories, Swoop? Grimlock seems to be quite fond of them.”

Almost immediately, the young mech perked up. “Me Swoop love stories! You Perceptor know good stories?”

“I believe that I know a few,” the scientist replied. “What would you like to hear about?”

“Me want hear real story,” Swoop replied. “Me like stories about real things.”

Perceptor smiled. “I think I can come up with one of those.”  



	3. Stories (3/3)

Five Earth hours, seven stories and three Dinobots later, Ratchet and Wheeljack finally came to find Perceptor. They looked incredibly weary when they stepped into the rec room, and the scientist immediately started to extract himself from the pile of young mechs cuddled against him. Before he could even half stand, Swoop was pushing him back down into his chair and Grimlock was giving orders.

“You Sludge get them Ratchet and Wheeljack energon. You Slag and Snarl get chairs.” As the Dinobot leader spoke, Swoop stood and walked over to his creators. He fussed over them, checking for strain or stress damage while his brothers completed their tasks. When Slag and Snarl returned with chairs for the other mechs, Grimlock insisted on making sure they were arranged just so, and then helped the older mechs settle comfortably.

“Do they always fuss over you this much after surgeries?” Perceptor asked as his mates drank their energon.

Ratchet smiled slightly. “Swoop does, but not the others. I think they might be trying to impress you.”

The red mech looked down at Swoop, who had draped himself across his lap again. “Impress me? Why in the world would they need to impress me?”

“Us Dinobots want you Perceptor like us,” Swoop said softly. “Not think us stupid.”

“Oh, Swoop,” Perceptor petted the flier’s helm. “I wouldn’t think that. You are all young and have a great deal of maturing to do. That does not make you stupid.”

“You Perceptor not just say?” Grimlock asked carefully. “You not just try to keep them Ratchet and Wheeljack happy?”

Perceptor’s gaze flicked between his bondmates, taking in their concerned expressions. He wondered if this was the first time any of the Dinobots had brought up the subject where they could hear. After a long moment, his gaze finally met Grimlock’s. “No, I am not just saying that. Ratchet and Wheeljack would always know the truth anyway. I believe that all of you have a great deal of potential that is simply waiting to be tapped. Ratchet, Wheeljack and I will help you find it.”

“Me Grimlock not know what that mean, but it sound nice. So me say thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” The scientist gave the Dinobots a smile. “Now, let’s get Ratchet and Wheeljack back to our quarters. They could use some recharge.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Thanks,” Wheeljack said after the Dinobots had left and they were settled into their recharge berth. “I didn’t even know they were having problems, and then you knew exactly what to say to them.”

Perceptor gave the engineer a smile and a kiss before replying. “I have some small experience with what a discouraged, unappreciated and mocked sparkling might need to hear. If my past experiences can be of benefit to your creations, should I not offer my assistance?”

Wheeljack returned the kiss and the smile. “I’m glad you’re willing to help. They really aren’t your responsibility.”

“I believe that they are the responsibility of the entire crew,” the scientist replied reasonably. “We are all responsible for their upbringing and education; I am merely doing my part.”

“The Humans say that it takes a village to raise a child,” Ratchet said, sliding into the berth behind Perceptor. “It’s time our village stepped up to the responsibility.”

“There is that,” Perceptor agreed. “And how could I not see your creations as my own after all this time? These are the offspring I would have had, if we had not been separated for so very long.”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t take them well,” Wheeljack admitted softly. “They were my idea, sort of, and we needed the help and then the materials we had to work with just… They weren’t supposed to be like this.”

“Shh…” the red mech laid a soothing hand over his mate’s cheek plates. “You did the best you could with what you had. And the initial design was improved for the second generation. Your Dinobots are wonderful, and they will get better with time.”

“See, Jack?” Ratchet leaned over Perceptor and kissed the engineer just above the scientist’s hand. “I told you that you didn’t need to worry.”

“I always worry about them,” Wheeljack replied. “Creators do that.”

“Well,” Perceptor said softly. “They’ll always be safe with me.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-  
  
Perceptor was settling into his new lab and humming a bit to himself when there was a very hesitant knock on hte door. That was unusual, as there was a button to activate the visitor announcer next to the frame, but he didn’t puzzle over the irregularity for long.

“Enter,” he said, triggering the opening mechanism.

Carefully one of the Dinobots—Sludge, he thought, but the three that hadn’t talked were harder to tell apart right away—stepped inside.

Perceptor gave him a warm smile. “Come in. I don’t mind a bit of company.”

“Me Sludge have question,” the Dinobot said slowly. “Him Swoop say that you Perceptor answer it maybe.”

“Of course, Sludge.” The scientist was glad to know he had remembered correctly. “I will be happy to help you answer your question.”

Sludge smiled. “That good. What “potential” mean? Him Swoop not make sense when him explain and rest of us Dinobots not know word.”

Perceptor’s smile grew as he gestured the young mech further into the lab. “Potential is the ability to do something special. Everyone has the potential to do something special that no one else does…”  



End file.
